Yeah, you definitely need to have access to a wide array of flours for this one.

For the tofu, I have never found a problem with any of the varieties. I don't think I've ever tried silken extra-firm. I've done soft, firm, and lite firm, all with no issues. I have a Vitamix, so I have been blending my wet ingredients in there when I use mori-nu so I can guarantee that it is all completely incorporated. I think a food processor would work fine, too.

my book should show up in a couple of days :) are there any unusual ingredients in the book that might be more tricky to find? i have no idea how the bulk bin section at my earth fare compares to other earth fares or even whole foods. never been in a whole foods :(

we also have a "the fresh market" but i've never been.

_________________"....but I finally found block tempeh a few weeks ago with the intent to give it my virginity." -Moon

I can't recall seeing anything super duper hard to find in the book in terms of ingredients. There do seem to be a lot of recipes which call for barley flour, so I picked some up at Whole Foods over the weekend. I think you can find it at the other places, too, though. There are a few recipes containing corn flour, which is different from cornmeal and cornstarch and the like. Otherwise, I can't think of any really crazy items.

I can't recall seeing anything super duper hard to find in the book in terms of ingredients. There do seem to be a lot of recipes which call for barley flour, so I picked some up at Whole Foods over the weekend. I think you can find it at the other places, too, though. There are a few recipes containing corn flour, which is different from cornmeal and cornstarch and the like. Otherwise, I can't think of any really crazy items.

definitely no barley flour in bulk at earth fare. don't think there is corn flour either. will have to check if earth fare sells barley flour in the bob's red mill bag. can spelt be subbed for barley flour?

maybe i'll have to make a nerdy road trip to whole foods ;)

_________________"....but I finally found block tempeh a few weeks ago with the intent to give it my virginity." -Moon

my health food store (and my bulk store) are really good about keeping these weirdo flours ;) in stock. if i were in america though, I'd stock up on blue corn flour, because i've not been able to find that anywhere.

I read that barley flour and spelt flour have different amounts of gluten, so I think the closest sub for barley flour is actually whole wheat. The brand I located at Whole Foods was Arrowhead Mills; surprisingly, they did not have the Bob's Red Mill barley flour. Of course, a nerdy road trip to Whole Foods is always a good idea, in my opinion! My Whole Foods is a 40 minute drive from my house, but I'm a total geek and trek out there at least once every two weeks!

I read that barley flour and spelt flour have different amounts of gluten, so I think the closest sub for barley flour is actually whole wheat. The brand I located at Whole Foods was Arrowhead Mills; surprisingly, they did not have the Bob's Red Mill barley flour. Of course, a nerdy road trip to Whole Foods is always a good idea, in my opinion! My Whole Foods is a 40 minute drive from my house, but I'm a total geek and trek out there at least once every two weeks!

oh now i'm nerdily excited since you mentioned arrowhead mills. i *think* i've seen barley flour by arrowhead mills in the bag at earthfare. will most definitely have to check on my next trip there.

lucky ducky that you have a whole foods about 40 minutes away from you. mine is more like a 90 minute drive and would totally need to be a special trip.... we'll see......my book should arrive tomorrow. excited!

_________________"....but I finally found block tempeh a few weeks ago with the intent to give it my virginity." -Moon

my book arrived yesterday, i look forward to looking through it over the weekend. at quick glance, i am quite pleased! while there is not a list of recipes in the table of contents or before each chapter, the layout of the book --- one page per recipe, wonderful font/typesetting, beautiful pictures , extensive index--- more than makes up for that!

_________________"....but I finally found block tempeh a few weeks ago with the intent to give it my virginity." -Moon

I've never seen soy yogurt anywhere. I simply use soured non-dairy milk as a replacement. Because milk is obviously thinner than yogurt, I sometimes use a bit less than the full amount called for in a recipe.

For people in Canada, Bulk Barn has every type of whole grain flour you could possibly imagine (including corn flour!).

Is blue corn flour just for visual effect or does it taste different from regular corn flour? I've never eaten blue corn so I have no idea. I have seen blue corn chips, but they don't look very appealing to me.

i found arrowhead mills barley flour in the blue bag at earth fare, yay!!!! i am so psyched in such a nerdy way!!!

i had restraint at the bulk bins earlier at earth and bought just what i needed to make one of the cookie recipes ;) i wanted to go crazy buying all sorts of flours but i felt it would be much wiser on my wallet to sit down with the book and figure out some more recipes to try and then go back to shop.

the reason i ask is because i've tried the soy delicious coconut based ice cream and i am not a fan, mainly because i find the coconut flavor/taste a bit overwhelming. i suppose i am not a huge fan of coconut. i am concerned that in the baked goods, there will be a lingering coconut flavor (mild or strong) that i will not enjoy. esp since on page 16 the authors mention that coconut milk "brings such a wonderful and unique taste to foods."

_________________"....but I finally found block tempeh a few weeks ago with the intent to give it my virginity." -Moon

Beth - I would. try it out!(I'm betting the coconut milk is used for the flavour. so if you don't like it - swap?)

(I don't know what the fat content is based on Silk/Soy Delicious fridge coconut milk. For me it will be the "soy" factor. I already buy 3-4 cartons of silk' plain almond milk a week LOL don't want to add a new carton hehe

I made the English muffin bread tonight! It was fun to make and tastes just like English muffins from the store. I didn't get lots of nooks and crannies though, but there are lots of little baby holes kind of like whole wheat store bought English muffins.

I'm so glad that I bent the rules of my self-imposed cookbook buying ban for this one! Well done Celine and Tami, it's a gorgeous book and I'm so impressed with your creativity. I've mentally bookmarked about a dozen recipes to try soon, but I started out this weekend with the peanut butter surprise cookies and the pesto knots.

The cookies are great, really different to anything else and they taste kind of like satay cookies- in the most delicious way possible! Boyfriend is usually skeptical about 'weird' combinations, but he's been loving these too. The consistency was perfect- I've made plenty of wholemeal and oat flour cookies before, but the texture is usually a bit noticeably 'healthier'. Definitely not the case with these! We had the pesto knots with tomato soup for dinner tonight, and they were a total hit too. Impressive-looking, but easy to make, and super delicious! These make me want to have an Italian dinner party.

(I only took an in-progress photo of the pesto knots, oops!)

I can't wait to try more! We're travelling over the next week and have some friends dogsitting for us while we're away- I think some nice bread could be a perfect thank you gift!

I read that barley flour and spelt flour have different amounts of gluten, so I think the closest sub for barley flour is actually whole wheat.

They have (or to be more exact: wheat gluten is much stronger, barley gluten is weak, you can hardly make a 100% barley bread) - but if you sub whole wheat flour, you can also sub spelt. There's not much difference between both, spelt is actually a variety of wheat. It's gluten is not as stable as regular wheat gluten. So maybe spelt is even a better substitute than whole wheat. But to be honest I don't think it will make a difference.

vgnwitch wrote:

Is blue corn flour just for visual effect or does it taste different from regular corn flour? I've never eaten blue corn so I have no idea. I have seen blue corn chips, but they don't look very appealing to me.

I don't think there's a difference. I used regular corn flour and it worked out fine.

I've never seen soy yogurt anywhere. I simply use soured non-dairy milk as a replacement. Because milk is obviously thinner than yogurt, I sometimes use a bit less than the full amount called for in a recipe.

That is a great idea and one I am going to try. (Once I run through the special ordered CASE of unsweetened soy yogurt I had to buy in order to lay my hands on the stuff, that is!)

I just purchased an 8 inch cast iron skillet in order to try out the Spicy Cranberry Cornbread recipe. It is so cute! It was really cheap, too. My rational for purchase, other than wanting to try a recipe that contains cornmeal, cranberries, jalapeno, and other really interesting ingredients, is that I'll be able to use it in other ways.